Philippine Studies: Have We Gone Beyond St. Louis?

Priscelina Patajo-Legasto
Summarized by: Manzano, Arnold
Main Question: What is Philippine Studies?
All Studies in the Philippines?
St. Louis Exposition of 1904 an American project framed by Orientalist discourses
Classical Orientalism
-that there was an intrinsic, ontological, or given difference between the
occident and the orient, western and eastern.
-favors the western as superior
e.g. Western and the Non-Western other
Answer:
Not all studies conducted by foreigners in the Philippines should be considered Philippine
Studies because of their orientalist framework.
All Studies produced only by Filipinos?
Answer:
No, because orientalism, classic or contemporary, is also inscribed in studies on our Philippine
cultural, historical, and political practices produced by Filipinos.
Ex. Caroline Haus critic on Jessica Hagedorns novel entitled Dogeater.
-a horrendous name for a group of people who eat civilizedWestern Mans
bestfriend
-her thesis: the novel re-inscribes orientalism because it exoticizes those elements of
our culture that are already part of the Westerners perceptions of Filipinos as
orientals.
Philippine studies are not just about the subjectabout the Philippines and about the Filipinos. Neither is
it only about who conducts the studyFilipinos or non-Filipinos.
Philippine studies should be about a critical perspective
-a post colonial position
-critical and affirmative
Philippine studies should include discourses which are able to help us problematize and redefine the ff:
-Who Filipinos are?
-What is Philippine about Philippine cultural practices
-What directions we as a people, including those in the Filipino diaspora, should take to liberate
ourselves from the legacies of the Spanish and American colonialist discourses and the
continuing power of Western hegemony, that have metamorphosed into discourses of
globalization.